UK

British Prime Minister David Cameron pledges to ban secure messaging platforms in a move that creates risk for journalists relying on encryption for protection. The pledge comes as authorities impose a series of restrictions on the British media. Powerful laws including the Terrorism Act and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act are used to get around journalistic protections, and revelations published in January detail the interception by British intelligence agency GCHQ of messages between reporters and editors at news outlets in the U.K. in 2008.

San Francisco, February 4, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about reports that police agencies in the United Kingdom made more than 600 applications under anti-terror legislation to uncover journalists' confidential sources in the past three years. Today's revelation in the Guardian, citing the interception of communications commissioner, Anthony May, comes amid criticism of Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge to make end-to-end encryption illegal in the U.K.

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The U.K. prides itself on its commitment to free expression, but the latest revelations of surveillance of journalists and calls by Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, to ban secure messaging belie the country's drift toward a more restrictive environment for the press. The revelations further underscore the threat surveillance by Western democracies poses to journalism, a threat that prompted the Committee to Protect Journalists' Right to Report in the Digital Age campaign.

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September 18, 2014, New York--The Islamic State militant group released a video today that shows John Cantlie, a British freelance journalist kidnapped in Syria in 2012, making what he said would be the first of a series of statements, according to news reports. Cantlie's abduction in Syria nearly two years ago was not previously reported by CPJ and other groups at the request of his family.

The British government's attempt to rush through a bill on data retention before the House of Commons summer recess next week has run into opposition--not from members across the aisle but from Internet companies, civil liberty defenders, and lawyers, who say the law would extend the authorities' already vast snooping capabilities.

New York, June 5, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists
welcomes the declaration
today by leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations that democratic
governance and human rights should be integral to the post-2015 development
agenda. The United Nations is seeking
agreement on a broad set of sustainable development objectives to replace the Millennium Development Goals,
which expire in 2015 and which made no mention of political or civil rights.
The new goals will provide a framework for donor aid and thus influence
priorities for years to come.

A new document on freedom
of expression and opinion, adopted May 12 by the 28 foreign ministers of the
European Union, presses nearly all the right buttons. Drawing its inspiration
from international human rights norms as well as from the EU's treaties and its
charter of fundamental rights, the document reaffirms the role of freedom of
opinion and expression as "an essential foundation for democracy, rule of law,
peace, stability, sustainable inclusive development, and participation in
public affairs." It also makes a strong case for free and independent
journalism. The ministers committed the EU and member states to the defense of
journalists' freedom and safety, and endorsed watchdog journalism as a decisive
factor in "uncovering abuses of power, shining a light on corruption, and
questioning received opinion."

New York, March 11, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns
today's fatal shooting of an international journalist in Afghanistan's capital,
Kabul, and calls on authorities to ensure the perpetrators are held
responsible. The shooting comes amid mounting risks for foreigners in Kabul.

Two unidentified men approached Nils Horner, 51, in Kabul's diplomatic district this morning, according to a New York Times report citing Col. Najibullah Samsour, a senior police official. One of the assailants shot Horner in the head at close range, and then both men fled the scene, the report said.

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New York, February 19, 2014--The
Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by today's ruling by the
U.K. High Court that said David Miranda was lawfully detained under
antiterrorism legislation at Heathrow airport last summer.

Each year, members of the Global Coordinating Committee of
Press Freedom Organizations gather to discuss threats to journalists around the
world and plan action. Usually, we focus on frontline countries where
journalists face life and death issues. But as our annual meeting took place in
London this year, we couldn't help but notice the emerging threats to press
freedom in the United
Kingdom, which range from pressure
applied to the Guardian in
response to its reporting on the Snowden leaks to the royal charter that seeks
to impose ethical
standards on the print media in the aftermath
of the phone hacking scandal.